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drama

The little old biddy did happen to appear in my photo after all! I wasn’t even aware of it until I turned up the exposure!

The stuff in front of my house.

The stuff at the entrance.

As you can see, if you compare the photos, yes, she did kick the stuff around in a huff too!

As you can see, if you compare the photos, yes, she did kick the stuff around in a huff too!

High drama, Gotterdamerung and Ride of the Valkyries all rolled into one, early this morning at 5.30am on the street where I live! Yes, do you hear a song coming up in your head now? Well, this was Wagner, not My Fair Lady.

I woke up at 5-ish this morning to the usual Monday morning noises of the little old Greek lady who lives a few doors up the street, busy foraging in the bins. Yes, Monday is bin day. I looked out of my window and there she was, digging among the bins. I crawled back into bed with my baby girl, thinking nothing of it, until I heard a huge crash a few minutes later. I dashed out to my front porch and saw a whole lot of rubbish strewn all over the footpath in front of my house. Someone had taken the rubbish out of my neighbour’s bin and thrown the stuff all over the footpath, blocking my entrance too! I decided to take a photograph of the mess, and lodge a report with the city council, because I didn’t want to be held responsible for littering and messing up the area. Suddenly, the little old lady shot out of the darkness, and began yelling at me, accusing me of taking photos of her, and she even shoved me very hard at one point! That old biddy didn’t seem so harmless at that moment, not to me anyway. I was quite taken aback at her violence. Then she went on to threaten me, saying that her entire family will come for me later, so watch out! That was when it took a very dark turn in my mind. Being shouted at by a little old biddy in the dark at 5.30am in the morning is one thing, being shoved hard by her is another, but being threatened with her entire Greek family descending upon me is quite ominous, albeit containing a tad of humour therein.

I’ve had a previous altercation with her when she demanded free access to my backyard, claiming it was common property. Checked with my landlord and real estate agent, and they both told me to ignore the little old biddy, who apparently is something of a Neighbourhood Feature, and quite balmy. Well, they never told me she is capable of violence and threat. This time, I have to take action, for my own safety.

I have lodged a report with the council, to deal with the issue of the rubbish, and they did advise me to lodge a police report because of the physical violence and the threat. So I called the police station in my neighbourhood. The policeman told me I can only do two things: 1. lodge an official report of assault and threat, after which they have to take action and charge the old lady, bring her before a magistrate etc etc, or 2. take a Personal Violence Order against her in court (back home this is called a personal protection order – one and the same). The policeman informed me that there is no such thing as just a record of an incident, they don’t do that here. (They do, back home where I come from.) Honestly? I am up to my eyeballs in work and anxiety preparing for my trip. I just cannot afford the time and energy (which will definitely trigger my autoimmune and make me ill again, and mean further time and energy wasted) on this incident. I will have to take my chances and hope that she is really as harmless as everyone tells me she is. “Just the neighbourhood crazy old biddy,” that’s what I am told. Probably true. Anyhow, that’s the story for now.

Report or no, I am now a tad nervous about finding rubbish all over my place every single Monday morning henceforth, and the worst thing is if she tries to harm Lucy in some way or other. I shall have to be more vigilant from now on.

Well, if something did happen to me or my beloved Lucy, you know where to start investigating then! Wish me luck!

Here is some sonic accompaniment just for the fun of it! Enjoy!

Postscript: Well, this afternoon, I spoke to a few of my neighbours about my little adventure. Apparently, the little biddy is well known around here and she can be quite innovative with her quirkiness. On a few occasions, she placed rotten chicken carcasses into the fuse box of one of the houses along the street, because the occupants had annoyed her. One of the neighbours also had a sinister encounter with her son, who stopped his vehicle along the road and just sat there staring ominously at the neighbour in question. It seems this little biddy isn’t as benign as I had hoped she’d be. Hmmm…

4 thoughts on “drama”

one option might be to report the incident to crimestoppers. Our house was broken into a few years ago, and while the cops were there we mentioned a bunch of low-level incidents that had been happening for years – mail tampered with and that kind of thing – that we had never bothered to report. The cops said that crimestoppers keep statistics on the things that are reported to them, and these can help them and the police to build a picture of what is going on in an area. So, while you might not want the grief of going through an official report, your incident can still be linked to other things that are going on in the neighbourhood and might be helpful at some point in the future.

Good luck with the old biddy. It’s not nice to feel threatened in your own home, but I’m sure she’s just a bit confused and angry and nothing more will come of it.

Thanks so much for the suggestion! Yes, I think I shall do so, just for the reasons you stated. Seems like a better avenue to pursue rare than charge her immediately as I do think she may just be a tad demented and nothing else. Crimestoppers is a great idea! Thanks again and thanks for dropping by!